James Gray's symphonic The Lost City of Z, adapted from David Grann's 2009 book, is the kind of grand adventure epic few people know how to make anymore. Charlie Hunnam, summoning the perfect blend of ardor and understatement, stars as real-life British explorer Percy Fawcett, who, in 1925, disappeared in the Amazon jungle while seeking a long-lost civilization. Others doubted its existence, but Fawcett was sure in his bones, and in his heart, that it was real. He devoted his life to locating it.
In the film, Fawcett gets his first inkling of this mythical outpost on a routine, if dangerous, exploratory Amazonian expedition in 1906. His passion is sparked when he glimpses a carved face nestled in a tree trunk, guarded by a jealous, growling panther. He returns home,…